Australian shares edge higher; AUB Group tanks after takeover talks end
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More news: Australian shares edged higher at the open as tech and mining stocks led gains. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 3.9 points, or 0.05%, to 8,618 at 10:30am AEDT. However, seven of the 11 sectoral indices were down.
Copper miners were among the top performers on the ASX 200, with Greatland Resources (+9%), Capstone Copper (+4.4%) and Sandfire Resources (+3.2%) rallying.
Data centre operator NextDC (+3.8%) also climbed after expanding its capital expenditure plans by $400 million in FY26.
Insurance broker AUB Group (-17.1%) was the worst performer after ending takeover talks with private equity duo EQT and CVC Asia Pacific.
Treasury Wine Estates (-5.5%) also fell after confirming a $687 million impairment in its US business.
Australian shares to rise ahead of key GDP data
The news: Australian shares are set to edge higher at the open after Wall Street indices lifted during a half-day session on Friday, capping a week buoyed by growing expectations for a rate cut when US Federal Reserve policymakers meet next week.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 4 points, or 0.04%, to 8,628
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.61%, S&P 500 up 0.54% and Nasdaq up 0.65%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.29%, DAX up 0.29% and FTSE 100 up 0.27%
- Spot gold: up 1.40% to USD4,218 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 1.04% to USD63.19/bbl and US WTI up 1.35% to USD59.44/bbl
- AUD: up 0.19% at 65.48 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.70% to USD91,491.
The context: Wall Street's three main indices all advanced on Friday, in a session that ended early due to the Thanksgiving weekend. The rally — which also saw bonds, Bitcoin and commodities climb — continued despite the halting of futures and options trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after a cooling issue impacted one of its data centres.
In the local market this week, investors will await Wednesday's third-quarter GDP figures for clues to the Reserve Bank's next rate call. Economists are expecting GDP growth of around 0.6% over the quarter and 2.1% over the year.
This week will also see Bank of Queensland (Tuesday) and Premier Investments (Friday) hold their annual general meetings.
